Frank was a Couch's spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii)
I purchased at a local pet store in the summer of 2001. Of all my past
amphibian pets, I must say I loved him the most. He died on February 25,
2007. I will never forget him.

Frank was not like other amphibians
in that he spent much of his time buried underneath the soil, so it was
always a pleasant surprise to see him. At times, he would remain
buried for up to 5 months! Usually, by that point, I would get
worried and carefully dig up the whole terrarium until I found him.

Not only was Frank delightful to
find, but I loved the sounds he made. When I picked him up a certain way, he
croaked. It was not the same burp-like sound he made for a mating call, but
it still sounded pretty neat.

Sometimes, if I was lucky, I would
get to hear him making his real mating call. As soon as I
approached, he would stop. On July 3, 2006, I managed to sneak up on
him with the couch between us, so he couldn't see me coming. I shot
this video of a couple croaks...

Here are some photos I took of Frank. They are in
consecutive order by date, with oldest photos first.

Click on each thumbnail to see a
larger view!

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have from Frank's
younger years and it was taken with a cheap camera and can not be clicked on
to see a larger view. One can see how his markings changed dramatically
through the years. This was taken in August 2001.

On December 7, Frank developed a skin
disease. I am sorry to say, it was my fault. His new terrarium
upstairs didn't ventilate as well and I was unaware that it had gotten too
moist until he had already developed the condition. I took him to
the vet and got some medication for both parasites and fungus, since it is
difficult to diagnose the problem and he seems to have two separate
conditions---brown patchy lesions on his head and body, as well as
brownish spots on his underside. After several weeks of treatment,
he seemed back to normal. I cleaned out the old soil and bleached
out his tank. I baked some new soil in the oven to kill any fungus
that may have come with it and returned him to a clean, new terrarium.

January 20, 2007I took these funny pictures to submit to
humanclock.com. You can see the
first photo at 7:10pm.

Unfortunately, the photos above
were the last to be taken of my buddy, Frank. On January 31, 2007,
I wrote the blog entry below:Just when I thought Frank had recovered from
his bout with fungus, he is now suffering from something more serious.
When I dug him up to feed him on Monday, he was very bloated and having
difficulty breathing. On Tuesday, I took him to the vet. The bloating
was fluid, not air. It contained rod-shaped bacteria. He is on an
antibiotic for the bacteria, which may or may not be effective against
this type of bacterial infection. Even if the bacteria can be killed
off, it is still not certain whether they are the cause of the bloating.
That could be caused by liver, heart or kidney dysfunction. I mixed up a
hypertonic ringerís solution using some chemicals from work and a recipe
given to me by the vet. It was supposed to help remove the water from
his body. I weighed him before and after the treatment and he ended up
getting almost 4 grams heavier! So it didnít work. The vet had suggested
I take him out of the soil and give him some moss to bury in, but he was
so unhappy in that setup, constantly trying to dig. Since these may be
his last hours with me, I figured it would be best that he is
comfortable, so I went against the advice and put him back in the soil.
As soon as I set him down, he was buried within a few minutes. Please
keep him in your thoughtsómaybe thereís some slim chance he can make it
through this.

Here is the update I wrote on February 4, 2007.

Amazingly, Frank is still alive. I found a way
to get the excess water out of him. I know from experience that when he
is in very dry soil, he weighs a lot less, so I thoughtówhy not dry out
the soil? I baked it in the oven until nearly all the moisture was
released. I put Frank in the baked soil after it cooled. He dropped
about 14 grams overnight! Since then, I have been monitoring his weight
every few hours (while Iím at home and awake) and trying to look for
patterns. So far, there arenít any. He has both gained weight and lost
weight in the hypertonic ringerís solution (which also contains an
antibiotic), while in theory, he should only be losing weight. He has
both gained weight and lost weight in the regular ringerís solution,
while in theory, he should remain constant. He has both gained and lost
weight in his regular soil. The only thing that went according to theory
was that he always loses weight in the baked soil. So all I can do is
keep giving him his treatments, try to monitor his weight and keep him
from getting too bloated, and hope that the antibiotics are working.
Iíll write an update if anything has changed from my current treatments.

Here is the update I wrote on February 19, 2007.

While I have managed to slowly decrease Frankís
water weight, he is still in very poor health. Over the past week and a
half, his lungs have filled with more and more fluid. At times, I have
seen him breathing with his mouth open, a sign of suffocation. Because
his nostrils were getting covered in soil, I can no longer keep him in
his favorite setting, so he is rather uncomfortable now. I have him in
a container with a paper towel that is soaked with ringerís solution.
Last week, I managed to force feed him a few crickets, but for the past
7 days, he has vomited them up. Today, I am trying worm bits. On try
#1, he threw it up after about 15 minutes. I am still waiting to see
the results of try #2. He was getting stronger after he ate a few
crickets and I was starting to exercise him for about 30-45 minutes each
day, but he hasnít been strong enough to walk for the last 3 days now.
He hasnít even opened his eyes for 3 days either. Anyone that knows me
knows that I wonít give up on him until he is dead. I canít lose hope
until there is no more hope to be had. So I will keep trying my best to
save him.At around
3:40 am on February 25, 2007, I had just taken Frank out of his
hypertonic ringerís solution that contained the antibiotic. He looked
really bad, although I still had hope because he had swallowed a worm
down earlier in the day, he had lost a lot of the bloating due to excess
water, and I even saw him urinate for the first time in about a month. I
was holding him in my hand, as I try to do each day for a little while,
and I told him ďFrank, you know I love you, and youíve fought really
hard, but if you have to die, then please die with me.Ē I continued to
massage his back and legs. He was barely moving. About a minute later,
he took a few deep breaths and went limp. I saw his hind legs twitching
and I knew he had passed. His exact time of death was 1-25-2007 at
3:43am. I had previously envisioned him dying in my hand. That was how I
wanted it to happen. I didnít want him to be all alone. Although it was
very sad, I am glad it happened that way and that he was with me. I will
miss him tremendously.Added
11-17-07: I have since realized that it was the medication that
killed Frank, not the fungus. The spadefoots I bought in May
2007 have had problems with this same fungus since I got them.
At first, I had used some of Frank's medication on them, but then I
noticed two yellow spots in their lower back, just like Frank had.
When I saw them on Frank, I wasn't sure what to think, but this time,
I knew they must be the kidneys and the medication (which was a yellow
color) must be staying in the kidneys rather than being filtered out.
I stopped using the meds immediately, realizing that it was kidney
failure that killed Frank (and that seemed very logical from the
symptoms of water-retention difficulties). After about 6 weeks,
the fungus disappeared for a while, then reappeared. For the
last 6 months it comes and goes, but doesn't seem to harm the
spadefoots in any way. If only I would have known, Frank could
be here today. I can't believe it is my fault he is gone.
Sometimes I guess one should just let nature take its course and not
try to use all these man-made concoctions to solve problems like this.
Hopefully, my story can help others seeking help for their sick
amphibians.Frank has also been featured in two of my
watercolor paintings and I plan to
continue painting him in future watercolors.Frog Fantasy Scape III Featuring Frank
and the Vegetanimal from Outer Space, 1-4-2006(first picture taken without a flash shows truest colors, but
least clarity)

Frank and the Toads of the Short Forest, 1-4-07This painting is my visual representation of a Frank
Zappa song called "Toads of the Short Forest". There are also
references to this forest in other songs such as "Camarillo Brillo" and "The Adventures of Greggery
Peccary". Upon careful inspection, you will see Greggery, the tiny twisty
tree with eyes on it, and of course, Billy the Mountain with the tiny cave at
the top of a cliff. Frank sits on the right. Also present by
my choice are cypress knees (one of my favorite
things) and two trees whose roots intertwine to spell the word "love".

I was so saddened by the loss of Frank and
couldn't stand to be without a spadefoot, so I bought four more.